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Hendon Gaels are a British gaelic games club based in Hendon, London. They are the official gaelic games club of the Metropolitan Police. They are affiliated to the London GAA and used to play in the London Inter-Firms League.

Background

Until 2001, the Gaelic Athletic Association had Rule 21 in it's rulebook. This rule specifically prohibited members of British police forces or security services from playing gaelic games. In 2001, a majority of GAA counties, excluding five of the six counties of Northern Ireland, voted in favour of removing rule 21 from the rulebook, thus allowing members of the police to join the GAA. Two years later in 2003, Hendon Gaels were formed owing to the number of Northern Irish and Irish policemen in the Metropolitan Police and joined the London GAA.

In 2005, Hendon Gaels started playing inter-police Gaelic football matches with other police forces around the world in the International Police Gaelic Football Tournament run by the GAA. In 2007, they hosted the second edition of the tournament. Prior to 2013, Hendon Gaels cease playing in the London leagues. In 2013, Hendon Gaels were invited to play at Croke Park in the international police tournament. During it, Hendon Gaels played matches against the Police Service of Northern Ireland's PSNI GAA, the Republic of Ireland's Garda Síochána's Garda GAA and the United States' New York Police Department.